Skill to left of him, talent to right, Little in middle with whom?

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This article was published 13/09/2016 (3308 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One former linemate is with the New York Islanders and the other is likely pencilled in to skate on a unit that shone for the Winnipeg Jets at the end of the 2015-16 NHL season.

So, without Andrew Ladd on one side and Blake Wheeler on the other, Bryan Little’s stuck in the middle with whom?

It’s a question the 28-year-old Edmonton native has certainly pondered this summer.

“I think about that quite a bit,” Little said Tuesday, after a nearly 100-minute informal skate with the Jets at the MTS Iceplex. “It’s hard to tell who you’re going to have chemistry with. But I go through different stuff in my head who I might be playing with, and how best to play with them. You’re kind of mentally preparing for different people you might see with you.”

The combination of Little, Ladd and Wheeler as the team’s top line was always pretty much a sure thing — right from Day 1 when the franchise arrived from Atlanta prior to the 2011-12 season.

The odd time, the deck was shuffled by head coach Paul Maurice or his predecessor, Claude Noel, to try and snap the club out of whatever pitiful state it was in. But when the short-term fixes flopped, the Jets returned to the default position, the tried-and-true trio.

All that changed about seven months ago.

Little was injured Feb. 18 in Tampa Bay after taking a crushing hit by Lightning defenceman Anton Stralman. A week later, the club announced he was done for the season with a compression fracture of his T-6 vertebra. Just hours later, Ladd, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, was dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks along with blue-liner Jay Harrison and minor-league forward Matt Fraser for young winger Marko Dano, a 2016 first-round draft pick and a conditional third-round pick in 2018, kicking off a wild few days around the NHL trade deadline.

Ladd since signed a seven-year, US$38.5-million deal with the Islanders.

Wheeler, meanwhile, is expected to hook up with centre Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers on a line that found almost immediate success for Winnipeg after Little and Ladd vacated the lineup.

Little said change can be difficult to accept.

“He’s a guy I hung around with a lot off the ice and was good friends with,” he said of Ladd. “Unfortunately, that’s one of the parts of the game. I mean, you have to say goodbye to people you’ve been friends and teammates with for a while. It’s going to be weird probably the first few days of camp not seeing him around, but there’s nothing you can do.”

Jets’ rookies practise Thursday afternoon and then leave for Penticton, B.C., for the annual Young Stars Classic tournament, featuring the prospects of Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Winnipeg’s main camp begins on Sept. 20.

Little played just 57 games a year ago, firing 17 goals and adding 25 assists. He’s had three previous 20-goal seasons with Winnipeg and hit the 30-goal mark once with the Thrashers.

His back has healed up nicely – in fact, he maintains he could have played the final few games of the season had the Jets been in a playoff race – and, by his own admission, he’s in the best shape of his career as he heads into his 10th NHL campaign.

While he’s keeping an open mind when it comes to a new set of linemates, the possibility of playing with some new guy named Patrik Laine definitely intrigues him.

“I’ve watched him play a few times on TV and thought, ‘Ya, I wouldn’t mind playing with him,’” Little said, laughing. “You never know. Maybe we’ll get together and things just won’t click.

“Obviously, Scheif’s line at the end of the year played really good hockey, so that’s the only one I can kind of see starting out together. I think for the rest of the lines, the coaches will be playing around with the combinations a bit.”

He said even with all the uncertainty, he’s more excited about the upcoming training camp than he was the previous five with the Jets.

“This one definitely feels a bit different,” he said. “Just skating out here right now, you see how fast and how skilled some of these young kids are and you’re excited about the future and you’re hoping that some of these guys can step into the lineup and be effective players right away.

“I don’t think we’ve had battles like this for roster spots at a camp ever before. We haven’t seen this kind of depth before. It’s exciting.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.catwitter@WFPJasonBell